The Indiana Court of Appeals has denied Sarah Jo Pender's request for a new trial on her 2002 conviction for double murder.

In a one-page order ­issued late Friday, the court said Pender "failed to establish a reasonable possibility" that she was entitled to a subsequent post-conviction relief hearing to appeal her ­110-year prison sentence.

Several legal experts, including the prosecutor who won the murder conviction against Pender, say she was wrongly convicted of double murder, based on evidence dis­covered in the years since her conviction.

Retired Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Larry Sells described Pender as the "female Charles Manson" during her trial. But he announced last summer that he now thinks he relied on dubious testi­mony to win Pender's conviction in the shotgun slayings of roommates Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman in 2000.

Sells found a list penned by a key state's witness that identified criminals the witness was willing to help police capture in exchange for a lesser sentence.

The witness, fellow Marion County Jail inmate Floyd Pennington, testified that Pender confessed to him while they were in a hospital waiting room.

But Sells failed to sway the appellate judges.

The court agreed with Deputy Attorney General Andrew Kobe, who argued that the disputed list was not all that important to Pender's defense.

Pender purchased the shotgun and helped her boyfriend Richard Hull cover up the crime. She admits she is guilty of ­assisting a criminal. But the maximum sentence for that crime would have been served years ago.

Hull is serving a ­90-year prison sentence for the murders.

Cara Wieneke, Pender's appellate lawyer, was not immediately available for comment.